How did early Christians remember Jesusaand how did they develop their own aChristiana identities and communities? In this accessible and revelatory book, Greg Carey explores how transgression contributed to early Christian identity in the Gospels, Acts, Letters of Paul, and Revelation. Carey examines Jesus as a friend of sinners, challenger of purity laws, transgressor of conventional masculine values of his time, and convicted seditionist. He looks at early Christian communities as out of step with arespectablea practices of their time. Finally, he provides examples of contemporary Christians whose faith requires them to ado the right thing, a even when it means violating current definitions of arespectability.a